Buckfast Summer Fair 2023. What a fantastic afternoon that was. Buckfast Abbey is a gorgeous Devon venue with lovely helpful staff. There was a huge audience today who really appreciated our singing. I absolutely loved conducting you all today and I think we all gave it 100%. Great gig. South Devon Rockies take a bow! Great community gig - just what Rock Choir is all about!

Lovely wedding up near Collumpton yesterday. Upton Barn & Walled Garden. The bridal party came in to ‘The Better Half of me’ by Tom Walker. Slightly different arrangement this time as I improvised a subtle violin counter melody around the original acoustic version of the song. I had a good workout on my electric violin playing for almost three hours. Lovely wedding at a lovely venue. #weddingviolinist #musiciandevon #devonviolinist

We had the pleasure of playing at the beautiful Poltimore Church on Saturday. After a lovely wedding service the quartet played a variety of pop pieces at a private venue for the drinks reception. We finished the set with a rendition of Sweet Child O’ Mine including a fabulous improvised solo from Richard our 1st violinist.

I played for a special wedding yesterday at Powderham Castle. Congratulations to friends Michelle and Alan on a beautiful ceremony in the music room in the castle. Wow! Great acoustics and it was a pleasure to play The Lark Ascending for Michelle. Bit of a pressure gig though as Michelle is not just a friend she is also a professional musician and we work together often. Hope it was ok! Lovely wedding at a lovely unique venue.

Lovely summer wedding at the very beautiful Deer Park Country House with Exe Valley String Quartet One of our favourite venues. Unfortunately we had to play indoors because of the showers but we still had a great time playing a set of pop and rock classics. Lovely to play Gabriels Oboe for the bridal party entrance - such a beautiful piece of music - perfect for strings! #weddingquartet #WeddingMusic #exevalleystringquartet Also the ladies of the quartet got to wear their new dresses today. Very smart!

Another beautiful sunny day for a Devon summer wedding. This time I was playing in the beautiful surroundings of Elfordleigh in Plympton. Electric violin day today with lots of pop and rock covers including Coldplays A sky full of stars. The A38 didn't beahve itself today so I had a few detours down the Devon Country lanes but we got there in good time.

Teignmouth Airshow 2023. What a great gig we had yesterday at the Teignmouth Airshow. Great atmosphere on the Den and the Teignmouth Rock Choir where fantastic. What a great sound. Lots of great feedback from the crowd and well done with our new songs - I think that they went down really well! Special shout out to Pam, Wendy, Jeanne on your first gig with Rock Choir. You were amazing!  Four gigs in three days - Loved them all but glad they are all over now!

Two wedding gigs in one day today. First up I joined the Exe Valley String Quartet and played for a lovely traditional church wedding in Dunchideok. We played A Thousand Years and Canon in D as well as Blinding Lights and Abba!  A real mixture.  After that it was a quick change and off down to the Royal Cornwall Hotel for a solo gig playing for the wedding breakfast. This time on electric violin and lots of rock and pop classics.  Busy day filled with lits of music!

A wedding with a twist today. A lovely traditional church wedding in Woodbury where I played a new arrangement of ‘kiss me’ by Sixpence non the Richer. Then off to Branscombe beach for an hour of electric violin tunes including lots of film and Disney classics. A real Devon wedding!

Plymouth Armed Forces Day 2023. A very warm gig but an exceptional performance from the Plymouth Rock Choir! I am so proud of each and every one of you for being so professional! You sounded fantastic and the audience loved it! You also looked very smart (well done - I know it was hot). Thank you for being awesome at such a special event for Plymouth. Big shout out to our newest rockies performing at their first gig! You smashed it! Rock Choir #plymouth Plymouth Armed Forces Day.

Lovely sunny June wedding. This time over at the very beautiful Beaconside House . We had a host of pieces for the entrance of the wedding party including 'Everything' by Michael Buble, 'Ain’t no sunshine' by Bill Withers and 'At Last' by Etta James for the brides entrance. Lovely ceremony with a beautiful singer as well. Drinks reception included requests 'Come on Eileen', 'Crazy in Love' and 'Take on me'. A great time was had by all especially me playing these fun songs on electric violin.

The South Devon Rockies were on fire today singing at the English Riviera Airshow. Thank you each and every one of you for your professionalism and of course your amazing singing. We have had lots of great feedback from the audience. I hope that you have all cooled down a bit now after a warm sing in the sun. Brilliant singing - thank you all for being amazing! I'm a very proud choir leader this evening!

A fantastic day for a wedding at Beara Farm. We played a medley of pop music from Adventure of a life time to Wildest dreams whilst guests enjoyed the sun and drinks. Then after a small break, we serenaded guests whilst they had their wedding breakfast.

Wednesday 31st May 2023. Wedding number three in our busy half term week was at the lovely St Audries Park Wedding Venue in Somerset. We always enjoy playing at this venue with its glorious gardens and beautiful Orangery for the ceremony. We surprised the groom with the theme from Jurassic park (seems to be very popular again!) as he entered. We then played a new piece for us, Beethoven's 5 Secrets, which is absolutely awesome. We love it! Its a combination of the pop style and the classical style. Perfect for a brides entrance!

Monday May 29th 2023. Wedding number two this week at the very beautiful Upton Barn & Walled Garden. Lovely sunshine again but quite windy so a bit of a challenge to keep the music on our stand! There was a lovely atmosphere as we played A Thousand Years, Better Together and Best Days of our Lives as requests. We also played our brand new bespoke arrangement of Oceans by Coasts. We then continued to play a range of pop and classical favourites during the drinks reception. Lots of lovely feedback. Thank you everyone.

Beautiful sunny May wedding at Cadhay in Ottery St Mary. What a stunning venue! Lovely music choices including Can’t help falling in love with you (Hayley Reinhart version), Hallelujah and I Giorni which is beautiful. Then I played for a couple of hours in the sunshine by the lake for the drinks reception. Congratulations to Amy and James on your special day! It was awesome!

A double header of Rock Choir gigs across South Devon for the Kings Coronation celebrations.  First off we sung in sunny Torquay on Sunday overlooking the English Riviera. A beautiful backdrop for a gig.  The rockies were on fire creating a terrific atmosphere as the crowds all joined in and sung with us and danced with us.  On Monday we did exactly the same in Dawlish.  Two fantastic gigs which we are very proud of. Great singing, great crowds and great atmosphere at both gigs.  Well done South Devon Rock Choir!

Fabulous wedding today at Kingston Estate Weddings near Totnes. Lots of music in the ceremony and reception including Hoppipola, Spring 1 from Bridgerton and Handels music for the Royal Fireworks. The drinks reception included some Guns and Roses and AC/DC. You have to be flexible in this job! Nice to be back with the string quartet today. Exe Valley String Quartet.

Had a lovely day in Sidmouth playing in the orchestra for Sidmouth choral society spring concert. Mozart, Handel, Stanford on the programme which was all in preparation for the coronation next week. Many thanks to Kris Emmett for a great concert.